Frank and the Obaasan Japanese Lessons

While on an intergalactic spy mission, Frank the alien loses control of his spaceship and plummets to Earth; Fukui, Japan to be precise. Lacking Essential repair materials, Frank must learn the earthlings language and find earth equivalents of the materials needed to repair his ship. With only a limited knowledge of Earth ways and the Japanese language, Frank discovers a number of interesting things, not the least... the Japanese toilet. Join Frank and his new found buddies in this multi planetary adventure!

Chapter One

THE BEGINNING

Frank contemplates his two options before his spaceship crumbles to pieces.

Option 1:do nothing and ship crumbles to pieces.

Option 2: attempt a crash landing somewhere on a planet called Earth.

Having thought carefully for a few minutes Frank chooses Option 2. Soaring headlong into Earth's atmosphere, Frank spots several large islands to crash land on. This of course is Japan...

CRASH!!!

Watch Chapter One as a movie, or begin studying by going to the next page:

Chapter One: Dialog

(We apologize for the quality of this recording. It was of course a miracle the historic Frank and Obaasan first meeting was recorded at all!)

If you would like extra greetings practice, please listen and repeat with the speaker. This audio lesson will also be on the last review page for Chapter one (in case you've had enough for now!)

Chapter One: Vocabulary

Run through these a few times until you can recognize them in the dialog

こんにちはkonnichi wa - Hello, Good afternoon [Used in the afternoon until the evening: You may have noticed the 'WA' is actually a hiragana 'HA' this is because it is used as a particle and an ancient Japanese wise man made it that way!]だいじょうぶdaijoubu - OK, Alright [This is a VERY useful word in real Japanese]ですdesu - (copula) to be, am, are, is [You'll see this one a lot!]かka - the question marker, ? [Makes a sentence a question - easy! MORE...]え？e -Huh? What? [Frank is a little suprised and unsure what the Obaasan said, so e comes out]ええと。。。eeto -Well, Let me see...[This is a filler; filling in the space while thinking of what to say]はいhai - Yes [iie means 'no']わたしはwatashi wa - I [only watashi means 'I' the 'wa' (which is actually a hiragana 'ha') is a particle that marks the main topic -- we will talk on this more later :) ]おばあさんobaasan - Grandmother, old woman[obaasan is often used when talking of or to old women. ojiisan is the male equalivant (NOTE: obasan (shorter without the extra 'a') means aunt (not old woman) be careful!)]あなたは？anata wa -You?[Again only anata means 'you' the wa is the topic particle again.]フランクfuranku- Frank [Foreign names are always written in Katakana]さんsan -Mr. Mrs. Ms.[This tag is placed after names but never used when speaking of oneself. Remember Daniel-san from karate kid.]はじめましてhajimemashite - Nice to meet you [This is an idiom from the verb meaning 'to start']

Chapter One: Explanation

こんにちはkonnichi wa - (Good afternoon) Here we have our first greeting. It is used from the afternoon until evening. It really means 'this day' but is used idiomatically as a greeting. As mentioned before, the wa is a hiragana ha but is pronounced as wa when used as a particle (see below for more on wa)

ですdesu - (copula, to be) When you want to say, "A = (or relates to) B" desu is used. For example, I am Clay. watashi wa kurei desu. That is a TV. kore wa terebi desu. More on this later!

かka - In most cases simply putting a ka at the end of a regular sentence turns it into a question. Consider this example: anata wa nihonjin desu. (You are Japanese.) - add ka - anata wa nihonjin desu ka? (Are you Japanese?) Presto! Instant questions! MORE ON THIS...

ええと・・・eeto - (let me see..., hmmm) eeto is used quite frequently by Japanese speakers. It is uttered to buy time while thinking of just what to say. Just like "uhmmm" it can be extend eeeeto

はwa - Particles in Japanese are placed after the word it modifies. This one makes the word it modifies the 'over all topic.' I know this sounds confusing at first and it is still confusing at second too. But don't despair there is more to confuse you later... This is pronounced as wa even though it uses the hiragana ha

「WORDS」 - These are Japanese quotation marks (" ") used to mark what is said. During the Edo Period Japanese had no punctuation. 「」,。,、,,, were not used

あなたは？anata wa - Literally this means, "You" and sets "you" as the main topic [see above] Often in Japanese things are left out when the listener can understand what is meant. What the Obaasan means here is, "And you, what is your name?" But simply saying , "you?" is sufficient and more natural.

さんsan - As mentioned before this is not used when refering to oneself. Other titles for people include kun (usually with boys) chan (usually with girls) sama (usually with customers and kings)

Chapter Two: Vocabulary

Run through these a few
times until you can recognize them in the dialog

じゃ ない。ja
nai - Not...; Negates whatever was before;
Used at the end of sentencesなまえnamae - Name; sounds
similar to the English 'name' (sort of!)なんですか？nan
desu ka - What
is it? This is a
very useful expressionなんnan
- What? Another way to write NAN is NANIなにかnanika - Something; Notice there is a relation to NAN (what); the KA
adds the unknown (SOMEthing)のみますnomimasu - To drink; it can also mean, "I will
drink."はい、どぞ。hai, dozo -
Here you are; another very useful phrase used
when offering things to guestsカルピスkarupisu - Calpis - Japanese drink made
from milk and water; This is spelled with katakana. This is a
strange name. It is spelled "Calpis" but pronounced
more or less as "cow piss" - pardon the low
educational value of this entry... The very first day I came
to Japan, I met a foreigner at the airport and he told me of
this drink. Our conversation went as follows: "You know
there is a drink here called Calpis." I answered, "No...
really?" "Yes, it is spelled C-A-L-P-I-S but it's
Calpis!"そうか。souka - really, is that so? I see ; This is said to show that you
are still interested in what the speaker has to say and you
are not sleeping. It also has the feel you have learned something
new.

Chapter Two: Explanation

だいじょうぶですか？daijoubu desu ka? - [Are you ok?]
As we discussed in Chapter 1, adding a かka
to the end of a sentence makes it a question. Without the
ka this would mean, "(I) am fine."daijoubu can mean "fine,ok, good, safe..."

いいえ、だいじょうぶじゃ ない。iie, daijoubu janai - [No, I am not
fine.] Lit. "No, fine not." First comes the
"No" which is iie. And lastly comes
the negating factor which negates daijoubu. You
can play tricks, by saying "daijoubu... [wait
a few seconds] ja nai!" This is kind of
similar to the movie "Wayne's World" where the
character is always making his sentences negative by adding
"NOT!" at the end. Only this is normal
Japanese.

なまえはなんですか？namae wa nan desu ka? - [What is
your name?] namae- namewa- particle
which is after the main topic of the sentence; note it is
pronounced as wa, not ha, when used as a particlenan - what desu - iska- question
marker
"nan desu ka" [What is it?] is a very
useful question. You can just point to an object and say,
"nan desu ka" or you can start with
"... wa nan desu ka?" [What is ...] as
in the example

わたしのなまえはおばあさんです。watashi no namae wa obaasan desu -
[My name is "Obaasan."] watashi no - [my]
remember this as a one-word word. Remember the no is a
possessive particle which shows relation between two
things. So whenever you have watashi + no
it always equals "my."
This phrase is also very useful for introducing yourself.
"watashi no namae wa ...[your name] desu."

はい。わたしはフランクです。hai. watashi wa furanku desu. - [Yes,
I am Frank.] An important point: When speaking of
oneself, one never uses san

なにかのみますか？nanika nomimasu ka? - [Would you
like something to drink] [lit. something to drink?]
Would you like something to eat is "nanika
tabemasu ka?"
Would you like to see something (tv or movies) is "nanika
mimasu ka?"

はい。のみます。hai. nomimasu - [Yes, I will drink]
This is a good example of how in Japanese repeated
information is usually not repeated. We
know the topic (something to drink) and we know the
subject (I) so we don't have to say them again. In fact
it is clumsy to do so.

はい、どぞ。hai, dozo - [Here you are] Remember
these words together. The hai is 'yes' but in
this case with dozo it means, "Here you are."

なんですか？nan desu ka? - [What is it?] We saw
this before and we will see it again! What is it?

カルピスです。karupisu desu - [It's Calpis] As
mentioned before, Calpis is a popular Japanese milk-based drink.

カルピスはなんですか？karupisu wa nan desu ka? - [What is
'Calpis'?] Another way of asking what something is is
"... tte nani?" The first way is more
polite. (note there are 2 t's in tte this is
because there is a short pause between what you are
asking and the te)

カルピスはのみものです。karupisu wa nomimono desu. - [Calpis
is a drink] Because the main topic of "Calpis"
is known, you really don't have to say it. You could just
say, "nomimono desu."nomimono-
this is a compound word of nomi ('drink' from 'nomimasu')
+ mono (thing) = a drink thing or a drink

そうか。souka - [is that so?] As mentioned
before, this is added to act like you are listening and
interested in what the speaker has to say. It has a
feeling of "Oh, I didn't know that! Thank you for
informing me of that fact."

Chapter Three: Vocabulary

Run through these a few
times until you can recognize them in the dialog

じゃあ、jaa - Well then...
Well...; Used to
fill in spaces いきましょうikimashou - Let's go!どこ？doko - Whereすし レストラン。sushi resutoran- A sushi restaurant すしsushi - sushi はwa - the
overall topic particle\ Although it is written with the
hiragana HA it is pronounced WA when used as a particle なんnan - what | Do you
remember "namae wa nan desu ka?" (what
is your name) (Chapter 2) だろう？darou - I wonderまって！matte - wait!それはsore
wa - As for
that... - just sore means 'that' the wa makes it the main topic of the sentenceこれはkore
wa - As for
this... - same as above the kore means 'this'よyo - added to give weight to the
truth of what was stated 人げんnin gen - people, human : you don't have to know the word,
but the kanji (your first kanji here!) is very useful.人 - peopleわたしもwatashi
mo - me too |
the mo means 'too'あっそう。a sou - Oh, I see.
Said when understanding someone elses logic || The small tsu っ makes a small space in between a & souそれ ならsore nara - if that is the case... |Notice
the sore (that) どうぞdouzo - please, go ahead, by all means...

どこ？doko? - [where?] Memorize these
question words! ; The longer form
with a verb is doko desu ka? (Where is it?)
However, very often in Japanese things are dropped when
it is repeated information. In this case only doko is fine.

すし レストラン。sushi resutoran - [sushi restaurant]
| Notice there isn't a T sound at the end

こんにちは！おげんきですか？konnichi wa! ogenki desu ka? - [Hello!
How are you?] Perhaps you are familiar with this. The O
added before genki is there for honor. When
speaking of / to others you can use O but when answering
for oneself, you should always say, 'genki desu.']

それはすしですよ。sore wa sushi desu yo - [That is
sushi.] In this sentence and the next are 2 very useful
words, sore (that) and kore (this).
When it is sore WA it is 'That is...' but it can
also be an object in the sentence.

ああ！これはすしです。aa! kore wa sushi desu. - [Oh! this
is sushi.] kore (this)
USEFUL:kore wa nan desu ka? [What
is this? (probably point to something
nearby or holding the object]sore wa nihongo no hon desu. [That is a Japanese book.] (probably
something a little ways from the speaker)kore - speaker is near or
holding the objectsore - speaker is not near the
object mentioned

すみません。それはすしです。人げんじゃない。sumimasen. sore wa sushi desu. ningen ja
nai. - [Excuse me. That is sushi. It is not human.]
You don't have to remember ningen just remember
the kanji for people 人 It is easy!
Usually the kanji is pronounced hito and means
person.

あっそう。それ ならどうぞ。a
sou. sorenara douzo. - [Well if that is the case, go
ahead] a sou is simply a reactionary sound made
to show a little surprise but acceptance of the truth of
what is said. || sorenara is useful (it that is
the case) sore means 'that' and nara means 'if'

Chapter Four

In the previous chapter (chap. 3) Obaasan takes Frank to a sushi
restaurant. All is well and dandy until Obaasan goes to the
bathroom. Frank mistakes a piece of sushi for a person to talk
to, and does just that. The clerk of the restaurant sees this and
tries to explain to Frank that that is sushi. Frank now
thinking he knows the little guy's name proceeds with his
conversation. The chapter wraps up with the clerk explaining that
sushi is not human and with Frank explaining that neither is he...

<obaasan
returns; Frank is bowing to a piece of sushi>Obaasan - Frank, What are you doing?Frank - I'm talking to my friend!Obaasan - Who is your friend?Frank - This is.Obaasan - That is sushi. Sushi is food!
Not a friend.Frank - Oh! really?!Obaasan - Yes, it's true. It doen't
speak.

Chapter Four: Vocabulary

Run through these a few
times until you can recognize them in the dialog

何をしていますか？nani
o shite imasu ka? - what are you doing? | this is a good sentence to
memorize.何nani
- what | same
as nan || first studied in chapter
2 していますshite imasu - is doing | usually makes verbs
into ING verbs -Usage will be covered laterともだちにtomodachi
ni - to a
friend | tomodachi (friend) is also good to knowはなして
いますhanashite imasu - speaking, talkingだれ？dare?
- who? |
another important question wordたべものtabemono
- food | do
you remember nomimono? drink - mono means
"thing" so 'a thing to eat'ほんとう？hontou?
- really? Are
you sure? Are you kidding? | This is probably one of the top
10 most useful Japanese words! はなしません。hanashimasen
- not speak,
not talk - whenever you see the masen it is always
negative

ともだちはだれ？tomodachi wa dare? - [Who is the
friend?] lit. 'friend who?' Very often words are dropped
in Japanese if they are understood by the speaker and
listener. Even the important desu verb isn't
totally necessary. Of course the "correct" form
would be, 'tomodachi wa dare desu ka?'

これです。kore desu - [It's this] || there
isn't an 'it'

それはすしです。すしはたべものですよ。ともだちじゃない。sore wa sushi desu. sushi wa tabemono
desu yo. tomodachi janai - [That is sushi. Sushi is
a food. Not a friend.] || Do you remember in Chapter 2 nomi
mono (a drink)? Well tabe mono (a food) is
related. Of course the tabe comes from the verb tabemasu
(to eat) and nomi comes from the verb nomimasu
(to drink), but what is mono? mono
means 'thing.' So tabemono is 'eat thing.'

ああ！ほんとう？aa!
hontou? - [Ah! Really?!] Again this is casual speech
so the ver (desu) is dropped. hontou is
very, very useful! hontou desu yo.

Chapter Five: Vocabulary

Run through these a few
times until you can recognize them in the dialog
Some of these have already been studied in previous lessons. See vocabulary list to review all words learned.

いきましょう！ikimashou!
- Let's go! |
The mashou always means "let's...".どこに？doko
ni - Where to?
|| Just doko means "Where" and
the ni shows direction となりtonari - next, next door, next to | this can be used for
anything that is next to somethingのno
- This is the
possessive marker Like the apostrophe S --> 's うちuchi
- house, homeいいよ。ii yo -
ii means
good and yo is added for stress. But ii yo
can mean, "That sounds good, let's do that..."こんばんは！konban
wa - Good
evening | another important greetingあらara -
not really a word,
but a sound showing some state of surprise.その人sono hito - that person || hito is
"person, people, man..."だれdare - whoと もうしますto
moushimasu - is
called ~ || A very humble (& polite) way to introduce
yourselfはじめましてhajimemashite
- Nice to meet
youいらっしゃい！irasshai -
welcome! || This is
often shouted when you enter any storeおじゃまします！ojamashimasu
- lit: I will
be in the way || a polite way to enter someone's houseねne
- ne
is added to the end of ii desu to add stress, but
there are also other meanings which we will see laterすわってsuwatte
- sit || the ~te
form of suwaru (to sit) ください。kudasai
- please || it
actually means "give me" but when it follows a verb
ending with a ~te it means 'please' is どこでも。dokodemo
- wherever || demo
(and see below) is added to some question words like ever
is in English. (itsudemo - whenever || dokodemo - wherever おちゃocha - Japanese green tea || a very common treat for
guests.でもdemo
- even, say (for
example)のみますnomimasu
- drink か？ka
- ? || makes a
sentence a question.ねえねえnee
nee - hey!
listen up || again not a word, but a way to get people's
attention when you have something good to say山田さんyamada
san - A very
common name ことkoto - thing, matter, situation || Yamada's situation
or what Yamada has done きいたkiita - heard || past simple of kiku (to hear)うそ！uso - lie || this is often said in
spoken Japanese, but saying it isn't as strong as calling
someone a liar in Englishほんとう？hontou?
- really? Are
you sure? Are you kidding? | This is probably one of the top
10 most useful Japanese words!

Chapter Five: Explanation

いきましょう！ikimashou! - [Let's go!] We first
saw this in Chapter 3, but it is ve

ry useful. The plain "go" is
ikimasu (normal - polite) or iku (normal).
The first (ikimasu) is in what's called the -masu
form because it ends in masu. (easy right?) The masu
form is considered polite, but is used very often. Just
plain iku (sometimes called dictionary form)
is also used often. To say "LET'S ..." simply
add mashou to the end of the masu form.

どこに？doko ni? - [Where to?] We saw doko
(where) in Chapter 3, but now we have a strange little ni
added after the doko. As you can see from the
translation, the ni adds a direction (to).
Obaasan said "Let's go" so Frank asks "Where
TO?"

となりのうちに。tonari no uchi ni. - [To the next
door neighbors' house.] 1st point:
notice the ni is added again to show direction. 2nd
point: to say next-door-neighbors, simply say
"tonari no..." to say the "The
Brown's next door" would be "tonari no
buraun" OR to just say "neighbor" in
general say "tonari no hito" (next's
person = next door person) 3rd point: tonari
can also be used for objects. kuruma no tonari (next
to the car) || neko no tonari (next to the cat) but
saying "tonari no neko" would mean
"the next door's cat" -- do you follow?

こんばんは！konban wa - [Good evening.] This is
a set phrase. It actually means "As for this night"

こんばんは、あら、その人はだれですか？konban wa, ara, sono hito wa dare desu
ka? - [Good evening, oh and who is this person?] 1st
point: The answer to konban wa is konban
wa. 2nd point: ara is not
a word, but a sound showing some level of surprise.
Japanese uses a number of sounds like ara. eeto
(let me think...) is another one that you have
encountered. 3rd point: Do you remember sore
(that) from Chapter 3. Both sono and sore
are actually the same, but the usage is different. sore
stands alone and is usually followed by wa
(the topic particle "as for...") as in "sore
wa sushi desu." (That is sushi) BUT!! sono
is always connected with a noun. sono sushi wa oishi
desu. (That sushi is delicious.) sono hito
(that person) NOTE: sore's
partner in crime, I mean, Japanese is kore (this
(not that)) and kore's noun-brother is kono.
kono hito (this person)

フランクと もうします。はじめまして。furanku to moushimasu. hajimemashite. -
[I am called "Frank." Nice to meet you.] 1st
point: Think of the to as "quotation
marks" 2nd point: moushimasu
is a very humble (that means Frank is a nice guy) way of
introducing oneself. You could also say more abruptly
"furanku desu." (I'm Frank.) 3rd
point: hajimemashite (nice to meet you
- lit. Let's start...) is said when meeting for the first
time.

はじめまして、いらっしゃい！hajimemashite, irasshai - [Nice to
meet you, welcome.] 1st point: hajimemashite's
answer is hajimemashite. 2nd point:
irasshai is a shortened form of irasshaimase
(welcome) - a good rule is the longer the word the more
polite it becomes. Both irasshai and irasshaimase
are yelled by store clerks at every supermarket,
shop, and store when you enter their doors.

おじゃまします！ojamashimasu! - [Sorry for
disturbing you] 1st point: jama
means "thing in the way" "a bother"
so literally you are saying "sorry for being a thing-in-your-way"
2nd point: the o added at the
beginning is for politeness. You will see more of it
later.

いいうちですね。ii uchi desu ne. - [You have a nice
house] 1st point: I put "you"
in the translation, but in Japanese this is not natural.
It is obvious the house belongs to "you" so it
is not said. 2nd point: add ii
to any noun that you like. "ii hito" (nice
person) "ii neko" (nice cat) 3rd
point: the ne is added for stress and
to presupose that everyone would agree. ne has
many usages and I don't think they can be explained well.
If you listen to the different ways it is used, you will
catch on.

ねえねえ、となりの山田さんのことはきいた？nee nee, tonari no yamada san no koto wa
kiita? - [Hey, hey, did you hear about Mr. (or Mrs.)
Yamada?] 1st point: nee nee
isn't a word, but it is one of those sound things. The
image is of someone saying "nee nee"
while jabbing their elbow at another person to get their
attention. "hey, listen up..." 2nd
point:koto can mean a number of things.
"thing, situation, happening" I guess the koto
here would mean something like "Did you hear ABOUT
THE THING Mr. Yamada did? 3rd point: kiita
(heard) simple past tense of kiku (to hear)

うそ！uso - [Your
kidding!] 1st point: This literally
means "lie" but it has a feel of "You are
kidding!" in English. Calling someone a liar in
English isn't normal but in Japanese it is.

ほんとうですよ。hontou
desu yo. - [It is true!] 1st point:
hontou is the opposite of uso2nd
point: the yo is added to stress the
fact that what was said is indeed true. I guess the yo
here would be something like "You'd better
believe it" in English. It is a shame we don't have
something like yo or ne in English!

Frank's Vocabulary

The number in brackets [5] tells you which chapter the word comes from
The Colors show who spoke the word first

anata wa あなたは？[1] -You?[Again only anata means 'you' the wa is the topic particle again.]ara あら[5] - not really a word, but a exclamation showing some state of surprise.a sou あっそう。[3] - Oh, I see. Said when understanding someone elses logic || The small tsu っ makes a small space in between a & soudaijoubu だいじょうぶ[1] - OK, Alright [This is a VERY useful word]dare だれ[5] - whodarou だろう？[3] - I wonderdemo でも[5] - even, say (for example)[there is another very common word meaning "but" also]desu です[1] - copula, to be, am, are, is [You'll see this one a lot!]doko どこ？[3] - Where
dokodemo どこでも[5] - wherever || demo (and see below) is added to some question words like ever is in English. (itsudemo - whenever || dokodemo - wherever
doko ni どこに？[5] - Where to? || Just doko means "Where" and the ni shows direction
douzo どうぞ[3] - please, go ahead, by all means...e え？[1] -Huh? What? eeto ええと。。。[1] -Well, Let me see...[This is a filler; filling in the space while thinking of what to say]furanku フランク[1] - Frank [Foreign names are always written in Katakana]hai はい[1] - Yes [iie means 'no']hai, dozo はい、どぞ。[2] - Here you are; another very useful phrase used when offering things to guestshanashimasen はなしません。[4] - not speak, not talk - whenever you see the masen it is always negative
hanashite imasu はなして います[4] - speaking, talking
hajimemashite はじめまして[1] - Nice to meet you [This is an idiom from the verb meaning 'to start']hontou? ほんとう？[4] - really? Are you sure? Are you kidding? | This is probably one of the top 10 most useful Japanese words!
ii yo いいよ。[5] - ii means good and yo is added for stress. But ii yo can mean, "That sounds good, let's do
ikimashou 行きましょう！[3] - Let's go! | The mashou always means "let's...".irasshai いらっしゃい！[5] - welcome! || This is often shouted when you enter any storejaa じゃあ、[3] - Well then... Well...; Used to fill in spaces
ja nai じゃ ない。[2] - Not...; Negates whatever was before; Used at the end of sentences
ka か？[1] - ? || makes a sentence a question.karupisu カルピス[2] - Calpis - Japanese drink made from milk and water;
kiita きいた[5] - heard || past simple of kiku (to hear)konnichi wa こんにちは[1] - Hello, Good afternoon [Used in the afternoon until the evening: You may have noticed the 'WA' is actually a hiragana 'HA' this is because it is used as a particle and an ancient Japanese wise man made it that way!]konban wa こんばんは！[5] - Good evening | another important greetingkoto こと[5] - thing, matter, situation || Yamada's situation or what Yamada has done
kore wa これは[3] - As for this... - same as above the kore means 'this'kudasai ください[5] - please || it actually means "give me" but when it follows a verb ending with a ~te it means 'please' is matte まって！[3] - wait!
namae なまえ[2] - Name; sounds similar to the English
nan なん[2] - What? Another way to write NAN is NANI
nan desu ka なんですか？[2] - What is it? This is a very useful expression
nanika なにか[2] - Something; Notice there is a relation to NAN (what); the KA adds the unknown (SOMEthing)ne ね[5] - ne is added to the end of ii desu to add stress, but there are also other uses which we will see laternee nee ねえねえ[5] - hey! listen up || again not really a word, but a way to get people's attention when you have something good to saynin gen 人げん[3] - people, human
no の[5] - This is the possessive marker Like the apostrophe S --> 's nomimasu のみます[2] - to drink obaasan おばあさん[1] - Grandmother, old woman[obaasan is often used when talking of or to old women. ojiisan is the male equalivant (NOTE: obasan (shorter without the extra 'a') means aunt (not old woman) be careful!)]ocha おちゃ[5] - Japanese green tea || a very common treat for guests.ojamashimasu おじゃまします[5] - lit: I will be in the way || a polite way to enter someone's housesan さん[1] -Mr. Mrs. Ms.[This tag is placed after names but never used when speaking of oneself. Remember Daniel-san from karate kid.]
shite imasu しています[4] - is doing | usually makes verbs into ING verbs souka そうか。[2] - really, is that so? I see ; This is said to show that you are still interested in what the speaker has to say and you are not sleeping. It also has the feel you learned something new.
sono hito その人[5] - that person || hito is "person, people, man..."sore nara それ なら[3] - if that is the case... |Notice the sore (that)sore wa それは[3] - As for that... - just sore means 'that' the wa makes it the main topic of the sentence
sushi resutoranすし レストラン[3] - A sushi restaurant
suwatte すわって[5] - sit || the ~te form of suwaru (to sit)
tabemono たべもの[4] - food
tomodachi ni ともだちに[4] - to a friend | tomodachi (friend) is also good to knowto moushimasu と もうします[5] - is called ~ || A very humble (& polite) way to introduce yourselftonari となり[5] - next, next door, next to | this can be used for anything that is next to somethinguchiうち[5] - house, homethat..."uso うそ！[5] - lie || this is often said in spoken Japanese, but saying it isn't as strong as calling someone a liar in Englishwa は[3] - the overall topic particle\ Although it is written with the hiragana HA it is pronounced WA when used as a particlewatashi mo わたしも[3] - me too | the mo means 'too'watashi wa わたしは[1] - I [only watashi means 'I' the 'wa' (which is actually a hiragana 'ha') is a particle that marks the main topic - we will talk on this more later :) ]